FOXBORO, Mass. - Positive momentum keeps building for the Franklin girls lacrosse team, and with each solid step forward the team takes, you can see the confidence growing along with it.
The latest of those positives occurred Monday afternoon when the Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit in the second half by scoring four straight goals, the last of which came on an eight-meter shot by Marta Vesprille with 14 seconds remaining to give Franklin a 7-6 victory over previously unbeaten Foxboro at the State Hospital Recreation Field.
"The second half I couldn't watch half the plays," said a relieved Panthers coach Kristin Igoe with a laugh. "We got down three goals and I just told them I think it's important to have that experience of coming back from behind and ultimately winning the game."
Maegan Schmauder scored twice in the first half for the Panthers (6-2), the first coming on a free position shot just 1:24 into the game. Foxboro (9-1) responded just over five minutes later as Katie Notarangelo split right between a pair of defenders and fired a high, hard shot through.
The Panthers went back in front courtesy of a great defensive play by Kristi Kirshe, who forced a turnover and started a nice transition rush with Schmauder ending up on the finishing end. Notarangelo got her second on an eight-meter play but Franklin retook the lead as Kirshe fired in a free position goal of her own.
Foxboro goalie CeCe Lynch did her part to keep her team close, making five stops in the half, the last of which came on a point-blank rip by Versprille at the buzzer.
"This is only her second year and she is making huge saves," Foxboro coach Brittany Jamieson-Sherry said in praise of Lynch. "She's really hard on herself and we try to tell her that 'It has to go through 11 people before it gets to you so don't get down.' She did awesome stuffing people and it's a momentum changer for us.
The Warriors (9-1) caught a wave of momentum right out of the break and strung four unanswered scores together to build a 6-3 advantage. Ellen Decker hit a cutting Mary Beth Sweeney in stride with a perfect feed that Sweeney buried to start the run.
The Warriors took their first lead on a heads up play Morgan Ames, who intercepted an errant clearing pass, raced in and stuck her shot. Sweeney followed with an eight-meter goal, then Decker won the ensuing draw and Foxboro executed perfect transition play with Decker passing to Sweeney, who quickly fed Maddie Moran for the score to make it a 6-3 game with 10:10 remaining.
"We knew coming into it that Franklin was big on doubling on transition so we needed to keep our heads up and get the pass off sooner than later," Jamieson-Sherry said of the Foxboro surge. "I told them 'Think before you shoot, everything needs to count' and they definitely pulled it together.
Igoe called a basketball-style timeout to try and slow the Foxboro momentum, and her club responded to the challenge. Steph Pisani fired in two goals in a row, then Versprille tied the game with a nice spin-and-rip off another free position with 2:57 remaining.
Franklin took another timeout and ran exactly what Igoe called for in the huddle, grinding the clock all the way down to the final minute. Pisani got a shot off that was deflected, but seconds later the Panthers were awarded another eight-meter, which Verspille snapped in for the game-winner.
"We had a gameplan going in of what we wanted to do in the end," Igoe explained. "We slowly crawled our way back and we won that last draw control and held the ball until last shot and they executed what I said in the timeout perfectly. Credit to them for running the play and listening."
"I just think it's a good experience to have, to have that pressure on your shoulders and to feel a little nervous," she continued. "That's going to come in handy I think in the future."